A NEW LAWN GAME.
By G. B. Bartlett.
A COMPLETELY new lawn game has just been imported from Germany, which must soon become a very popular and amusing pastime for old and young, for the appliances are very simple and any one can play it, while with practice great skill will be developed. At present there is only one set of this game in America; but the readers of theWide Awakewill need to try it but once to appreciate and enjoy it.
BOGGIA.
The game of Boggia requires one black ball, nine white balls, and nine colored balls. Croquet balls will answer; but those of hard wood are better, since they are heavier; still if made of light wood, melted lead can be poured into holes made with a gimlet until they weigh about one-half pound each.
Any even number can play, from two to eighteen persons.
The players are divided into two equal sides. The colored balls are divided among the players of one side, and the white balls among the players of the other side.
At first the players choose by lot which shall have the first roll; but in all future games the side that wins has the first roll. To make this choice, the leader of one side holds behind him a colored in one hand, and a white ball in the other; and the leader of the other side guesses, right or left. If he guesses the hand which holds the color of his own side he gains the right to begin the game; if not, the other side begins. The leader first rolls the black ball on the lawn to such a distance as he chooses, from a starting-line. Upon this starting-line every player must place his right foot when he rolls; this line extends across the lawn at least twenty feet, and the player can roll from any part of it, as it is often desirable to roll from different angles.
The leader then rolls a white ball, trying to have it stop as close as possible to the black ball.
The leader of the other side then rolls a colored ball; his object being to come in closer, or to knock away either the black ball or the white ball.
The players of each side play alternately—a white and a color—and the luck constantly changes; for as, at the close of the game, all balls of one side count which are nearer to the black than any ball of the other side, a lucky roll may change the whole result by coming in closer, or by knocking away either black, white, or colored balls.
Great skill can be used, as, if the ball is too swift, it goes beyond all the balls unless it hits and scatters them; if too light, it fails to come in near the black. Great excitement always attends the last roll, as a good player who knows the ground can often change the whole aspect of the game for the advantage of his own side, and a careless one often throws the game into the hands of the opposite by knocking away the balls belonging to his own side.
The side which first scores ten wins the game.
The pussy cat’s licking her paws:I wonder what can be the cause!Naughty cat, have you eaten a dear little bird?But the big maltese beauty says never a word.Now Kit, tell the truth while you live in this house—What have you been eating? And Pussy says, “Maowse!”
The pussy cat’s licking her paws:I wonder what can be the cause!Naughty cat, have you eaten a dear little bird?But the big maltese beauty says never a word.Now Kit, tell the truth while you live in this house—What have you been eating? And Pussy says, “Maowse!”
The pussy cat’s licking her paws:I wonder what can be the cause!Naughty cat, have you eaten a dear little bird?But the big maltese beauty says never a word.Now Kit, tell the truth while you live in this house—What have you been eating? And Pussy says, “Maowse!”
The pussy cat’s licking her paws:
I wonder what can be the cause!
Naughty cat, have you eaten a dear little bird?
But the big maltese beauty says never a word.
Now Kit, tell the truth while you live in this house—
What have you been eating? And Pussy says, “Maowse!”
Mother Pussy’s Pet.
Mother Pussy’s Pet.